If you don’t follow Andrew Kim’s Minimally Minimal blog you should. Andrew is a talented young designer who works for Microsoft on developing future products. This report in 2014 describes his work on the Xbox and his re-imagining of the company’s branding, titled “The Next Microsoft.”
On his sublimely designed blog, Andrew tests products that catch his discerning eye. His photographs and his descriptions are wonderful and I am immediately interested when he tackles a product or subject near to my heart. So it is with the Leica Q, reviewed here. The Q, itself designed by high-flyer Vincent Laine is just the sort of camera Andrew would love.:
…..in June, Leica surprised everyone with a completely new camera – the Leica Q. It’s everything we dreamed Leica would make – a compact street camera with a fast auto focus lens, full-frame sensor, and built-in viewfinder. Best of all, the Q costs only $4250. It may seem like a lot compared to other brands but for a full-frame Leica with true substance, it’s a bargain.
The review is a delight, not just for the images of the camera but of the superb images from the camera. This is one of the most captivating appraisals of the Q that I have read so far.
Within the first paragraph of this review Mike, I read this:
<i>"For so long, they’ve invested purely in mechanical and optical perfection, rendering them archaic compared to more tech centric cameras."</i>
I immediately thought…
What is wrong with that…?
I think I have commented that I looked at that camera, actually at RedDot Cameras, and decided that it was not the camera for me… Each to his own of course, but for me, there are thousands of cameras like that, and only a couple that behave like a proper M. Apart from that, I thought that the weight of then lens made it very top heavy, bearing in mind that the rest of the body weighs next to nothing. But that is a personal view.
True, at the moment there are only a couple of fixed lens, full frame cameras that behave like computers, but there are hundreds of fixed lens and system cameras with various different sensors on sale, and they come and go daily… Sony being the archest of arches.
There is only one M, even the digital M does too much, but at least one can ignore the stuff that one doesn’t want…
Oh for a digital M that looks and handles like the M-A… Like that stainless "60", but more in tune with the M style.
I read the other day, that Micheal Reichmann who is behind the "luminous Landscape" website, has just purchased a Rollei TLR (new), he says that all of the art has gone from photography, that programs in the camera and in the studio now do everything and the world is perfect… https://luminous-landscape.com/rediscovering-craft/
Whilst there is room in the world for the Q camera, it is a serious mistake to believe that the M is archaic.
Keep your eye open for new developments in October.